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Wasn't it the idea that kits were made to be built?


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those expensive kits? if you get patience and keep looking and looking strategically, and know how to bid, you will find one sooner than later for a price you might be willing to pay. the box might be messed up or missing, or maybe the kit is partially assembled, but I know that every kit I have looked for I have found and bought well below what they "go for". its a matter of staying on the case until the right one turns up. probably with a misspelled auction title or something like that. and that is usually good enough for me since I will be building it anyhow.

recent example was I picked up the revell "parts pack" mooneyes dragster and altered (I forget exactly) with a bit of a messed up box but everything there, plus there was a sprue of the dragster chassis parts with a couple parts used (actually the same as a sprue in the kit but that one was not chrome, they did not plate the chassis stuff in the kits for some reason), this parts pack goes for 30 - 60 itself regularly) for about 35$ plus shipping. the kit usually brings near a hundred bucks but in this case no one was interested (or noticed it somehow).

jb

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Ken, if you keep checking you may find one with a good price. Sooner or later you would think they would repop the truck you need...

Very true,

especially if its high dollar value collector type kit.

Just watch Ebay.

If one sells for big money ,, just keep an eye out. as there are usually a few more that come out of the woodwork. You have to be patiant and you will get a fair price.

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Time was, when we were all kids, we could build a model car faster than we could scrape up the $2 for the next kit. Somehow, now that we are all growed up, that situation pretty much reversed itself--far easier to have the $20-$30 for the next kit, yet we've not started on the last one (or any number of kits before that last one!) is even opened up!

Art

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As Art pointed out, it's just the nature of the hobby. At this point, I don't think anyone really knows how or why many of us have such over abundant "collections" ( for lack of a better word Jonathan ;) ).

I remember even as a young lad some time around 1957, as we had just moved to England, my Mom had decreed, " No more 'new' models till you finish what you already have." I can remember a Lindberg X-3 being one of those kits. :)Lindberg%20530-98%20X-3gd-.JPG A big deal as we had just come from Edwards AFB. And as Art said; saving up the fifty cents ( I remember that as well, 2 weeks worth of lunch money) to buy a Comet B-45 kit from a friend (?) at school. Had to have what was flying on base at the time.B45_1-vi_zpsncyymlxg.jpg in 47th Bomb Wing colors, same as the base, can't beat that. Just thought of something else, getting the ill gotten gains into the house. Being 1/87th scale , not too hard. Same as now. The next "Gotta have" kit was also from Comet, their B-66. After all the 47th was converting. :Pcometb66boxtop_01_zpspw875nzu.jpg Looking at the box art, this aircraft was probably just coming our way from Hurlbert field in Florida.

Edited by Greg Myers
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You can still buy that Lindberg X-3, though not for 50 cents. It's not a HORRIBLE kit, considering its age. Very little in the way of internal detail, but the shape isn't bad at all. I have one I'm planning to build sooner or later.

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I don't see collecting model kits any different than other things people collect. So you have kits that you will never build. Don't coin collectors have coins they will never spend ? Don't stamp collectors have stamps they will never lick and stick ? Same difference to me.

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You can still buy that Lindberg X-3, though not for 50 cents. It's not a HORRIBLE kit, considering its age. Very little in the way of internal detail, but the shape isn't bad at all. I have one I'm planning to build sooner or later.

Thanks Snake, I was aware of that. The other two are the ones that would turn my prop. B)

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I don't see collecting model kits any different than other things people collect. So you have kits that you will never build. Don't coin collectors have coins they will never spend ? Don't stamp collectors have stamps they will never lick and stick ? Same difference to me.

You're absolutely right Ray! It's just a little disheartening for builders like us to see these rare & beautiful old kits sitting on a shelf some where never to be built. But, you have to look @ the flip side as well. If it weren't for this sort of collector, there wouldn't be any of these pristine vintage kits around for us & the next generation of builders to buy. So in a way, they're doing us a service. Just in slow motion. :)

Steve

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Funny thing, i know a bunch of people with a bunch of kits and they build few and far between. But to a man none of them would consider themselves "Kit Collectors". :huh:

That would be me. I couldn't finish my stash in my life time. (I pretend I could.) But I love having them.

Edited by Scott Colmer
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I have a little different take on the collecting kits vs. building kits perspective. While I am first and foremost a builder, and indeed I have intentions of building every kit I buy, over time I have realized I enjoy the kit almost as much as I enjoy the building process and the finished product. If I die before I build them all my estate will sell the models off to the rest of you and there will be more unbuilt models for the rest of you to enjoy.

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I have no problem with being called a kit collector. I will buy everything that I like, and I enjoy completing series of annuals. I've completed my full size Chevy set, a mix of unbuilt kits, old built ups and a few I've assembled the correct parts in a box. The intent is someday to have all these built on my shelf... and what a shelf it will be! :P

Right now I'm focusing on collecting other series, like the 1969 Pontiac I need to complete that run. Then my full size Pontiac run is complete. Can I say I"ll ever get to building them all? Nope. But I've enjoyed the chase of finding all these cool kits and of acquiring and owning them. As I look through them I can imagine how cool it will be to have them all finished side by side.

I also have collected multiples of every kit of an old pickup ever produced, along with resin variations. This is my seed stock, for when I come across a 1:1, either in person or in photos, that I just have to commit to plastic. I'm happy to have it all in inventory when that situation arises.

The reality though is that I have many more models than I will ever finish. Just like when I had a collection of 1:1 cars I thought I'd never part with, one day I woke up and decided to sell them all. And that could happen with my model collection just as easy. You just never know when that day will come, but when it does happen you will know.

In the meantime, I enjoy acquiring them, I have the space to store them, I have the expendable cash to buy them and I enjoy the hobby. So no harm, no foul!

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and there you have it. Pretty much where we're all at. Just don't let your kits run you out of your home, relationship, life. ;)

Very important! A hobby is second to your responsibility to your family and household. Never spend money on the hobby before your rent/mortgage and family obligations are taken care of.

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